Redemption
by Diamondblade1
Summary: Zuko is offered a chance to redeem himself after his death at Azula's hands. He has three weeks to complete his newfound destiny and train the Avatar to firebend.
1. Chapter 1

_Avatar: The Last Airbender does not belong to me, no matter how many stars I happen to wish on..._

Zuko groaned quietly as he struggled to sit up. He felt horribly stiff, as if he had been lying in one position for far too long.

Glancing around he found himself in a dark cave, with no memory of how he came to be there. In fact, he couldn't remember anything after his meeting with his father on the day of the black sun. He had managed to redirect his father's lightening back at the fire lord, but Azula had stuck up behind him while he was distracted and blasted him in the back. There had been a flash of searing pain, and then everything had gone dark.

A slight movement in the shadows caused him to spin around, his body instinctively adopting a firebending stance. "Who's there?" he called nervously.

There was silence, and another unnatural flicker of the light as whoever, or whatever was hidden in the shadows moved again, drawing nearer to were Zuko stood, yet still remaining unseen.

Growling crossly, Zuko punched out in the direction of the watcher, intending to use his fire to reveal whatever was hiding there. To his shock and horror nothing happened. His firebending didn't work.

"Hello Zuko," the figure in the shadows said, his face still masked by darkness. "It's been a while." His words were friendly, if disturbing.

"Show yourself," Zuko demanded crossly. "Or are you too afraid to show your face?"

"As you wish," the figure replied. He stepped forward into the dim light, revealing a familiar yet wholly unexpected face.

"Lu Ten," Zuko breathed in amazement, dropping his defensive stance. "How? I don't understand, aren't you supposed to be dead?"

Lu Ten nodded solemnly. "I am dead," he replied. "As are you. We are in the spirit world now. That is why your firebending doesn't work."

"Azula," Zuko muttered in realization. "She killed me."

Lu Ten nodded again. "I'm afraid so. It is sad to see what she has become."

"It's not fair," Zuko scowled angrily. "I finally realise my destiny and I'm killed before I can do anything about it." He punched the wall in frustration, bruising his knuckles in the process.

Lu Ten smiled softly. "Actually, that's why I'm here."

Zuko looked at him quizzically. "What do you mean?"

"You're being offered a second chance," he replied calmly. "An opportunity to fulfil your destiny and help restore balance to the world. The spirits can send you back for a limited period of time, in which you can teach the Avatar firebending – hopefully enough for him to be able to defeat the fire lord and end this war. It is up to you whether you wish to accept or not."

Zuko considered this for a moment, and then nodded firmly. "I'll do it," he decided, "but there is a good chance that they'll just kill me as soon as they see me."

Lu Ten smiled in amusement. "You're already dead," he pointed out. "It's not like they can kill you again."

Zuko smirked. "That's going to disappoint the Waterbending peasant," he remarked cheerfully.

"You must go back now," Lu Ten advised softly. "You only have three weeks to accomplish everything you need to, so use your time wisely. The spirits will bring you back into the mortal realm near the Western Air Temple where the Avatar and his friends are currently hiding so that you don't have to waste any time travelling."

Zuko nodded. "Thank you," he said. "I'll see you soon."

There was a flicker of darkness and Zuko disappeared, back to the mortal realm, leaving Lu Ten standing deep in thought within the dim cave.


	2. Chapter 2

_Just the usual reminder that I don't own Avatar: The Last Airbender - it'd be nice though..._

_And a huge thanks to everyone that reviewed - I really appreciate hearing what you think._

It is a strange feeling to come back from the dead – even if you are still technically deceased. The world seemed brighter that Zuko had remembered, even though he couldn't have been in the spirit world for more than a couple of hours at the most. Even the air seemed crisper and full of life.

The spirits had sent him to a heavily forested hilltop, one which Zuko recognised from his previous trip to the Air Temple during his desperate search for the Avatar. It seemed that fate had a strange sense of humour, as he was once again searching for the boy that held the fate of the world on his shoulders, only this time it was to help, not hinder his efforts.

Zuko sighed softly to himself. He doubted that his reception would be pleasant, but he had to try, if not for himself then for his uncle's sake. He hoped that the old general had managed to escape somehow. "I'm sorry uncle," he whispered to the trees. "I failed you again."

Scrambling to his feet, he was pleasantly surprised to discover that his back didn't hurt where Azula had struck him. A quick glance at his back confirmed that the gaping wound had completely vanished, although the new skin that covered it seemed to flicker and glow, as if a fire burned inside.

Frowning curiously, Zuko carefully drew his dagger and nicked the skin on his arm. A thin line of blood welled up and then disappeared with a flash of flame. The skin on his arm glowed slightly, and was warm to the touch, but he was otherwise fine. 'Apparently there is a positive side to being dead,' Zuko thought with interest. This sort of healing power would've come in handy fighting his father, but he had a mission and he would complete it. Besides, it was the Avatar's destiny to defeat the Fire Lord – just as it was his to train the Avatar.

It didn't take long for Zuko reach the cliff leading down to the Air Temple, but finding a safe way down was another matter. It was late afternoon by the time he'd discovered the narrow path winding down to the Temple and he wished that the spirits had thought to provide him with a rope or something.

Down in the camp site Toph frowned to herself as her earthbending sensed the approach of something on the path from the clifftop. It was too agile to be a falling rock or something inanimate, yet it didn't seem to have a heartbeat that she could detect. Perhaps a machine of some kind?

"Guys," she called to Katara and Aang who were practising waterbending nearby. "We have company."

Zuko was greeted by a very unfriendly looking group of benders – and one non-bender if you count Sokka, which he didn't – when he finally reached the bottom of the cliff. He had spent the entire walk alternating between cursing the Air Benders who had designed the place and hoping that Lu Ten had been serious when he'd said that he couldn't die twice because it was an awfully long way to the bottom of the valley if he were to slip and fall.

"What are you doing here, Zuko?" Aang asked sternly, his body poised to fight at a moments notice.

Zuko slowly raised his hands in front of him to show that he meant them no harm and tried to look as harmless as possible. "I've come to help," he replied calmly. "I can teach you firebending." The small part of him that wasn't anxiously watching the Avatar's reactions noticed Toph's head snap up in surprise at the mention of his name.

"What makes you think that we'll let you anywhere near Aang?" Katara snapped angrily. "You're probably planning to kidnap him the first chance you get or perhaps just kill him in a 'training accident.' There is no way that we'll ever trust you again."

"Yeah," Sokka put in, waving his sword around in a dangerous manner – for the people standing nearby anyway. "Now leave before I throw you off the cliff."

"I have no intention of harming any of you," Zuko tried to reassure them. "It is my destiny to train the Avatar so that he can defeat the Fire Lord and restore the balance to the world."

Katara scowled. "For the last several months you've been chasing us because it was your 'destiny' to capture the Avatar. Now all of a sudden it's your destiny to teach Aang. What do you think it'll be tomorrow?"

Zuko sighed. "Look, I'm sorry for everything that I've done to you all, but I really have changed and I want to help. Besides, it's not like you have firebenders lining up offering to teach you. This is your only chance to learn before the comet arrives."

"He has a point there, twinkle-toes," Toph interjected thoughtfully. Zuko suppressed a shiver as she stared through him with her unseeing eyes. It made him feel like some kind of ghost.

Aang shook his head regretfully. "I just can't trust you," he said sadly to Zuko. "We've been enemies for too long…" he trailed off as he stared at something behind Zuko.

Curious, Zuko turned to see what he was looking at. He jumped back with an undignified yelp as he came face to face with the spirit of a dragon.

"Avatar Roko's dragon," Aang remarked thoughtfully, bowing to the spirit. The water tribe siblings and Toph all looked at him as if he was insane, with Katara muttering something about cactus juice.

The dragon inclined it's head gracefully to Aang and then proceeded to nudge Zuko a few steps forward towards Aang and the others. Aang frowned. "You want us to let him stay?" he asked the dragon spirit, which nodded once in reply before launching into the air and vanishing.

Aang looked at Zuko in interest. "You must have done something right to get Avatar Roko's approval," he remarked cheerfully. "I guess you're my new firebending teacher. Welcome to the group."

Zuko sighed softly to himself at the outbreak of protests from the watertribe siblings at Aang's announcement. Fulfilling his destiny looked to be anything but fun.


	3. Chapter 3

_Nope, still don't own Avatar: The Last Airbender._

_Again, a huge thanks to the people that reviewed - really makes my day. (-:_

Zuko woke instantly as the first rays of the sun peered over the mountains surrounding the temple. He was camped a little way away from the rest of the group – neither party had felt overly comfortable at the idea of sleeping in the same area.

Getting to his feet, Zuko was surprised by how energetic he felt. All firebenders felt more alert during the day when their element was at its strongest, but this was unusual even for him. Still, he had fallen asleep almost as soon as the sun had set, so he figured that he was probably just feeling refreshed after a good nights sleep.

Glancing over at the Avatar and his friends' campsite he wasn't surprised to find that they were all still fast asleep. He had often suspected that the only reason he'd been able to track the Avatar so easily was because they were so disorganised and lacking in discipline.

Finding a comfortable patch of grass, Zuko sat down and started his mediation exercises. He doubted that he would get a chance later once the rest of the group were awake. Besides, it was important that he spend every available moment training the Avatar – three weeks wasn't very long to master Firebending in. It had taken Zuko three weeks to learn the most basic of movements – he just hoped that the Avatar was a much quicker learner than he was.

He was soon absorbed in the meditation – his breathing slowed to the point that it was barely noticeable. He was so focused on what he was doing that he didn't notice Toph's approach until she collided with him.

"Hey, watch where you're going," he snapped at her, standing up briskly as the pain in his side where he'd fallen onto a sharp rock heated up sharply then returned to normal.

Toph glared at the tree next to him. "I'm blind," she said pointedly. "And you shouldn't have been sitting in the middle of the clearing like that."

"I was mediating," Zuko explained with a sigh. "And how do you get around so normally if you're blind?"

"I can see through my earthbending," Toph told him with a frown. "You're just abnormally quiet."

Zuko felt a chill at her words. "You're just too used to hanging around with noisy people like that guy with the boomerang and the Avatar."

"Perhaps," Toph allowed calmly, "but I doubt it. Also, they have names you know."

Zuko shrugged. "We were never formally introduced," he replied wryly.

Toph grinned mischievously. "Come to breakfast and I'll tell you what all their nicknames are."

Breakfast was, in Zuko's opinion, an extremely uncomfortable affair. Both of the Water Tribe siblings glared at him when he arrived trailing after Toph, which was sharply contrasted with Aang's cheerful smile and wave – he honestly couldn't say which was worst. If it weren't for Toph's not so subtle push towards a seat he probably would've simply turned back around – it wasn't like he was hungry in any case.

Wordlessly, Katara handed him a wooden bowl filled with some kind of cooked oats. It smelt delicious, but as soon as Zuko put a spoonful in his mouth it was all he could do not to spit it straight out again. The food tasted like ash – as if it had been left to cook for days. Glancing around at the others he noticed that they were attacking their food with enthusiasm – either they were used to the taste or his food tasted very different to theirs. When another cautious spoonful yielded the same result Zuko gave it up as a lost cause and sat the bowl down in front of him.

Katara noticed and glared at him. "Isn't my cooking good enough for Your Highness?" she asked with a scowl.

Zuko shook his head. "I'm just not hungry," he replied softly, hoping not to provoke her temper.

"More for me then," Sokka exclaimed, 'rescuing' Zuko's bowl from its place on the ground. Zuko watched curiously as the boy practically inhaled the food. So it was just him then.

"We'll start Firebending training as soon as you finish breakfast," Zuko announced to Aang.

Aang nodded cheerfully enough, but Zuko noticed a hint of reluctance to his demeanour.

"Actually, I was going to do some Waterbending practice with Aang this morning," Katara announced firmly. "You can teach him after lunch and Toph can do her training after dinner."

"No," Zuko contradicted her, ignoring her gasp of rage. "The Avatar needs to learn Firebending from the beginning and we haven't got much time. He's already proficient in Waterbending and Earthbending. If you want to practice with him you'll have to do it after sunset because during the day he's my pupil."

He sat back calmly, waiting for the explosion. The water tribe girl looked like she was about to have a heart attack – he supposed that the rest of the group usually just went along with what she said in order to avoid an argument.

"Actually," Aang said quietly but firmly, "I think that Zuko may be right. I have a lot to learn about Firebending before the comet arrives, so it's probably best if I concentrate on that for the time being."

Katara still looked mad, but she nodded in agreement. "If you think it's best," she allowed, glaring at Zuko. "Just be careful."

Aang nodded solemnly. "I will be."

"In that case," Zuko said as he stood up, "I'll meet you around the other side of the temple when you've finished eating. That way we can practice without anyone getting hurt."


	4. Chapter 4

_Alas, Avatar: The Last Airbender does not, in fact, belong to me. #Sighs#_

_Thanks for reviewing people!!_

Zuko waited impatiently for the Avatar to finish eating and join him in the improvised training grounds. It was surprisingly difficult keeping his temper around the group – particularly with Katara glaring at him every five seconds and Sokka's suspicious glances. Not that he could really blame them – he had chased them around the world trying to capture Aang – but it did make things difficult now that he really wanted to help, especially as he only had a limited amount of time to work with.

"Okay, I'm ready to start learning Firebending now," Aang announced from behind him, making Zuko jump slightly and spin around in alarm. All things considered, he felt he had a right to be wary of possible attacks from behind.

Aang looked startled at Zuko's sudden reaction, but chose not to comment, much to Zuko's relief. "What are you going to teach me first?" he asked instead.

"I thought we'd start with the basic moves – punches, kicks and blocks. They're the basis of the advanced forms so you'll need to learn them first," Zuko replied, gesturing for the Avatar to follow him out into the middle of the clearing.

To his surprise Aang looked relieved. "You mean I won't have to stand around and breathe for hours?"

Zuko shook his head firmly. "That's the way that Firebending is traditionally taught, but you don't have much time to master it so we'll have to speed things up by skipping a few steps. You'll pick up the techniques as we go along."

Aang frowned nervously. "Wouldn't it be better for me to learn the proper way?" he asked warily. "I don't want to lose control of the fire and hurt someone."

"No," Zuko replied determinedly. "I don't have enough time to teach you the usual way. And that's the reason why we're practising all the way out here, so that no one will get injured."

Aang still looked unsure, but nodded anyway. Zuko frowned slightly as he noticed the boy's lack of confidence in his ability to Firebend and wondered what had happened to cause it.

"Alright, the first move I'm going to teach you is a simple punch. Watch and I'll demonstrate," Zuko said firmly, carefully taking a Firebending stance and executing a light punch to the air. The resulting fire blast completely destroyed an unfortunate bush that had been growing at the other end of the clearing.

"Wow," Aang said enthusiastically as Zuko stared at the destruction is disbelief. "I didn't realise you were quite so powerful, Zuko. I mean, I knew that you were a good firebender and all, but I've never seen you do anything quite like that before."

"Um, well, I guess you could say that I've improved lately," Zuko replied, still studying the damage his fire ball had done. He'd never managed to produce a fireball that strong while he'd still been alive. Creating a small flame on his hand he studied the colour of the fire – it was deeper than he remembered, more crimson than red. Sort of like the colour of dried blood, he thought morbidly to himself before hastily shoving the thought away.

"Now you try," he instructed the young Avatar, who looked anything but enthusiastic at the idea.

After the fifth half-hearted attempt had produced a rather pitiful fireball that fizzled out long before it could do any damage, Zuko sighed and set Aang a series of exercises to work his way through before lunch. Moving a little way away from the training ground he sat down to think things through. He had hoped that the Avatar's natural ability would make him easy to train, but it seemed as though he was struggling with even the simplest moves. He'd never tried to teach anyone to Firebend before, and he wasn't really sure how to go about it.

He wished that he'd gone to free his uncle before confronting his father – perhaps then he would still be alive and his uncle would've been able to train the Avatar properly. Zuko remembered that he had struggled to master even the basic moves when he had started learning – it was only his need to succeed for his father and the desire to beat his sister that had keep him practising continually until he could almost do the moves in his sleep.

Unfortunately, the Avatar didn't have enough time to learn in that manner. Besides, Zuko didn't think that it was a lack of natural ability that was holding him back. Rather, he seemed almost afraid of the fire – his bending possessed a timidity that was completely lacking in his other bending styles.

A sudden shout on the other side of the temple caught his attention, and he hurriedly climbed to his feet and ran to investigate. Rounding the corner he found Katara and Toph fighting with someone he hadn't expected to see again – the assassin he had hired a while ago to kill the avatar.

He quickly leapt into the fray, blocking a blast of fire that was aimed at the Earthbender and sending several fireballs back in quick succession in an attempt to distract the powerful bender. Unfortunately, the assassin deflected them with almost a contemptuous ease and renewed his barrage. Even with the arrival of Aang and Sokka who'd heard the noise from afar the small group was hard pressed to defend against the highly trained firebender's attacks.

Ducking behind one of the walls, the group tried to avoid the continuous attacks. Katara tried to waterbend at him, but as soon as she moved into sight the assassin sent a powerful blast at her, forcing her to retreat behind their shelter.

"I'll distract him," Zuko said finally, stepping out into the open without even waiting to see if any of the group would try to stop him. Dodging the first blast, and deflecting the second, he managed to send a strong blast of his new crimson fire hurtling at the assassin. Unfortunately, this left him open to the man's next attack which sent him hurtling into one of the stone pillars with a nasty crack of breaking bones.

Dimly he noticed that Sokka had taken advantage of the assassin being distracted and had thrown his boomerang in a swift silver arc. A loud explosion followed not long after, then silence, so Zuko supposed that the Water Tribe boy had gotten a lucky shot.

He groaned slightly as pain coursed briefly through his body and then vanished as he quickly healed. Scrambling to his feet, he was met by a concerned looking Avatar, a puzzled looking Toph and two rather suspicious looking Water Tribe siblings.

"Are you alright?" Aang asked anxiously. "That was a nasty blow you took."

"I'm fine," Zuko reassured him. "It looked worst than it was."

"That's strange," Toph remarked calmly, "because I could've sworn that I felt several bones breaking when you hit that column."

Zuko did his best to look innocent. "Perhaps you heard the assassin?" he suggested casually. "There was a nasty explosion, I'm sure that it might have broken some of his bones."

"How do you know that he's an assassin?" Sokka asked suspiciously. "I bet this was all part of your plan to capture Aang. You told him where we are."

"I didn't tell anyone that you're here," Zuko protested fervently. "He must've followed you from the Fire Nation."

"Toph?" Aang asked, turning to the blind earthbender. "Is he telling the truth?"

Toph stared at Zuko thoughtfully for several moments before shrugging. "I don't know," she replied with a slight frown. "He doesn't have a heartbeat."


	5. Chapter 5

_Seriously, don't you think I'd be doing something else if I actually owned Avatar: The Last Airbender - like watching the rest of season three, for example?_

**Wow! Huge thank you to all the people that reviewed - you guys are the best!**

* * *

_Toph stared at Zuko thoughtfully for several moments before shrugging. "I don't know," she replied with a slight frown. "He doesn't have a heartbeat."_

The entire group stared at Zuko in disbelief, making him feel like some kind of animal in a zoo. He edged slightly to one side in case he needed to make a quick escape.

"Are you sure?" Katara asked Toph cautiously. "Perhaps it's just too quiet for you to hear properly."

Toph scowled in Katara's general direction. "I can feel the insects crawling around on the other side of this courtyard," she stated matter-of-factly. "I am standing right in front of Zuko and I can't feel even the slightest vibration from his heart. It simply isn't beating."

Katara looked worried. "But he looks fine," she protested. Reaching out hesitantly she grabbed Zuko's wrist and felt for a pulse but found nothing. "Did the collision with the column stop his heart or something?" she asked in concern.

"Maybe he just doesn't have a heart," Sokka suggested, but was quickly silenced by Katara's glare.

"Um, guys? I'm right here," Zuko interrupted, annoyed that they were talking about him as though he weren't there. "And I'm fine, really."

"Then why can't I hear your heart?" Toph asked edgily. "It's as though you are dead."

There was a deafening silence following her comment.

"Zuko's not dead though," Aang interjected with a frown. "Right Zuko?"

Zuko hesitated, trying to avoid answering the question outright. "Do I look dead to you?" he snapped crossly, hoping to discourage further questions.

Unfortunately, the Avatar's friends were extremely persistent. "You do look rather pale," Katara remarked thoughtfully.

"That's my natural skin tone," Zuko protested loudly.

"He's been unnaturally quiet ever since he arrived," Toph added reflectively. "And not just with his lack of heartbeat."

"He smells funny too," Sokka interjected helpfully. Zuko glared at him furiously.

"You have been different since you came here," Aang said quietly, his expression serious for once. "What happened?"

Zuko sighed. He'd figured that they'd find out sooner or later – he'd just hoped that it would be later – a lot later. "I died," he said simply. "Azula killed me when I was distracted from confronting my father. The spirits sent me back to teach Aang firebending, which is why I'm here."

There was a long silence, which was finally broken by Sokka laughing. 'Hah, that's a good one," he exclaimed. "You actually had me there."

Zuko raised his eyebrow in a gesture of amusement. "Wait," Sokka said frowning. "You weren't joking, were you?" Zuko shook his head calmly.

"So, you're like, dead?" Aang asked with interest, looking surprisingly calm about the whole thing.

"Ah, Zombie!" Sokka yelled, waving his boomerang in a pattern that was supposed to ward off evil. "He'll eat our brains while we sleep."

"Well, you'll be fine then," Toph remarked with a grin. Sokka gave her a puzzled glance, not quite registering that he'd just been insulted.

"How does that work, though?" Aang enquired, curious. "I mean, you're a lot more solid that most spirits, but if you don't have a pulse then you're not really alive either."

Zuko shrugged. "I'm not really sure how it works," he confessed. "I'm not a spirit, and this is my body – I think, but things are different for me now. Like my firebending."

Aang nodded enthusiastically. "I had wondered about that. I didn't think it was that powerful while you were chasing us."

"If it had been I would've caught you a long time ago," Zuko replied with a sigh. "Probably just as well, really."

"Don't get any ideas," Katara said suspiciously, holding up a flask of water in warning.

Zuko sighed. "Right, because I would totally capture the Avatar and drag him back to the people who killed me in the first place. Kindly give me some credit for intelligence."

Katara raised an eyebrow sceptically. "Based on what?"

"Hey, you aren't seriously thinking of letting him stay, are you?" Sokka interrupted, jabbing his finger in Zuko's direction. "He's dead. I'm not having a corpse wandering around our campsite."

"Animated corpse," Toph corrected with a sigh. "And I really don't see why this changes anything. Twinkle-toes still needs to learn firebending and dead boy over here is the only one available to teach him."

"Toph's right," Aang said, smiling at the small blind girl. "Besides the spirits obviously chose Zuko for a reason. Remember what happens when the spirits get angry."

Sokka considered this for a moment. On one hand there was Zuko, who was a dead firebender and on the other there was large dangerous spirits that did all sorts of crazy things. He sighed. "Fine, he can stay. But don't look at me if you wake up and find him munching on your brains."

Zuko scowled at Sokka. "I'm going for a walk," he announced. "We can resume training after you have some lunch." He nodded to Aang and hurriedly made his escape. The stares were beginning to get to him.

Reaching the stream, he began to follow it aimlessly, taking the opportunity to think things through. Being dead was no fun, especially when he was trapped here training the Avatar. It was his destiny, yes, but he almost wished that Aang had refused to let him help. At least then he would've been able to spend his three weeks trying to find his uncle and his mother – if she was still alive.

The sound of a branch cracking caught his attention and he spun around, automatically assuming a combat position. He frowned as a familiar figure appeared between two trees.

"Uncle," he exclaimed in disbelief.


	6. Chapter 6

_Nope, afraid I haven't magically gained ownership of Avatar: The Last Airbender since the last chapter. _

_Once again, a HUGE thank you to all the people who reviewed - your encouragement is greatly appreciated._

_I'd also like to apologise for this chapter taking a little longer than usual to post - I had an assignment due and unfortunately me writing this while I was supposed to be working on it meant that I had a rather long essay due and about a paragraph of writing done. (Shame I can't just hand a copy of this story in - it's soo much easier to write). Ah well, I never liked that subject much anyway._

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Zuko stared at his uncle in confusion as the General backed cautiously away from him.

"Zuko?" Iroh asked warily.

Zuko nodded. "Yes, uncle – it's me. I'm so sorry for betraying you before."

Uncle Iroh shook his head, still keeping a careful distance from Zuko. "It can't be," he said firmly. "My nephew is dead – I saw his body myself. I don't know what you are, but you will pay for mocking me with the form of my beloved nephew." With that he launched a wave of flames at Zuko which he quickly dodged.

"No Uncle," Zuko yelled, trying to defend himself against his uncle's increasingly fierce attacks. "It really is me. I was sent back to teach the Avatar to firebend."

"Lies," Iroh muttered, though his face looked uncertain for a moment. "Who are you and why are you wearing Prince Zuko's face?"

Zuko scowled. "Because it's my face Uncle," he yelled angrily. "Besides who would want to impersonate me? Three of the nations want to kill me and the fourth one already has!"

"Impossible," Iroh said sternly, though he stopped his attacks. For some reason Zuko was more recognisable in a temper. "If there was a way for the dead to return I would've found it for Lu Ten. I scoured both this and the spirit world for a way to bring him back after his death and found nothing. Why would you succeed in my stead?"

Zuko sighed. "I realised that it was destiny to train the Avatar but Azula killed me before I had a chance to fulfil it. The spirits gave me three weeks to set things to rights."

"Three weeks?" Iroh asked, unsure. "And then what?"

Zuko shrugged. "I'm already dead, uncle. Nothing can change that. At least this way I have a chance to do some good before I leave forever."

"Ah Zuko," Iroh said sadly, reaching out to embrace his deceased nephew. "There has to be a way to stop this."

Zuko shook his head calmly. "You're already several days too late, I'm afraid," he said softly. "All I hope is that you can find it in your heart to forgive me for all the pain I've caused you."

Iroh frowned softly, but nodded anyway. "One last chance, Prince Zuko," he said warningly. "I forgive you."

Zuko smiled wryly. "I don't think you'll have to worry about me turning against you again, uncle," he reminded him gently. "Come on, you should meet the others."

Uncle Iroh nodded silently, though a slightly haunted look flitted across his face. He had already lost his son to an endless war, it seemed the height of cruelty to lose the nephew that he regarded as a second son to the same war. And to find him again only to know that he would lose him once again in a few weeks just made things worst. If only there was a way to save his nephew, he would try nearly anything.

"Oh, and one more thing," Zuko said quietly, interrupting Iroh's thoughts. "The others don't know about the time limit yet, and I'd rather not tell them until I have to. They have enough to worry about at the moment as it is."

Iroh frowned at that, but nodded in acknowledgement of his nephew's wishes. "Perhaps it would be better to tell them," he suggested softly. "After all, the Avatar has some connections with the spirit world. Perhaps he knows of a way to prevent your fate?"

"No uncle," Zuko growled impatiently. "You said it yourself, there is no way to bring back the dead, not permanently. The avatar has enough concerns at the moment without adding mine to them."

With a sigh his uncle conceded his point. It did seem unfair to place yet another burden on the shoulders of the young Avatar, but Iroh wasn't so willing to give up on his nephew just yet. Zuko may have accepted his fate, but his uncle was determined to try and save him.

Reaching the camp Zuko was relieved to find that once the initial awkwardness was out of the way his uncle was willingly accepted into the group – a lot more easily than Zuko had been so far. Not that this surprised him really, his uncle had always been talented at defusing a tense situation and integrating himself with the most unusual people.

Watching his uncle laugh and joke over a pot of tea did make him feel slightly jealous though. He doubted that he would ever be accepted by the Avatar's group as completely as his uncle had been – especially not in only three weeks. He also regretted not spending time getting to know his uncle properly. There had been so many times when he could've simply sat and shared a pot of tea or a game of Pai Show with Iroh, and now it was too late.

With a sigh he went to find the Avatar to continue the boy's training.


	7. Chapter 7

_I went to a fortune teller and although she assured me that I would marry (unfortunately not Zuko) #sighs# she advised that I have never and will never own Avatar: The Last Airbender. I guess it's back to studying then._

_Thanks to everyone who reviewed - and to everyone who reads this - you guys totally rock._

* * *

Teaching Aang to firebend was rather like riding a tortoise-elephant, Zuko mused to himself as he watching the young Avatar struggle to produce more than the barest wisps of flame. Slow and frustrating. For the thousandth time he wished that his uncle had agreed to take over the lessons when the water-tribe boy had suggested it – casting a rather suspicious glare in Zuko's direction at the time.

Unfortunately for Zuko's patience, Uncle Iroh had merely chuckled and remarked that he was far too old to be teaching something as energetic as firebending. Zuko had chosen not to point out how sharply that contrasted with his uncle's tale of single-handedly escaping from the fire nation prison during the eclipse, or with the fact that Iroh had been Zuko's firebending master for the past three years.

And so Zuko was stuck trying to teach firebending to the Avatar, who, considering that he had apparently learned this thousands of times before in his previous lives, was doing an excellent job of not improving in the slightest.

It only took half an hour for Zuko's patience to completely snap. Zuko was amazed that he had even lasted that long. "Enough," he roared at the Avatar, startling the boy into dropping the flame that he was trying to carry across the clearing. Fortunately it dissolved into the surrounding air before it could do any damage.

Aang looked at Zuko quizzically. "What's wrong?" he asked nervously.

"Everything," Zuko snapped impatiently, gesturing for the young airbender to take a seat on a nearby log. "You're not learning and you're far too timid to have any real power in your moves. It's like you almost don't want to learn."

Aang shrugged guiltily. "I want to learn, really," he said quietly. "I just don't want anybody to get hurt."

Zuko frowned at that. "I know that the fire nation misuses their gifts, but there's no reason for you to think that you will too," he said slowly, trying to make sense of the younger boy's fears. "You're the Avatar. You need to master firebending so that you can restore the balance to the world. Fire isn't just death and destruction – it is life and warmth. It's simply a matter of how you chose to use it."

Aang looked away with a sigh. "I know," he said softly. "I need to learn. It's just that last time I tried I accidentally burnt Katara. After that I didn't want to firebend ever again."

"You won't hurt anyone," Zuko said reassuringly. "That's why we're practising all the way over here, so that there's no one's close enough to get hurt. Besides, Katara's a healer, right? So there's really no need to worry. Not to mention that water and earth can be just as destructive as fire in their own right. Even air can be used to destroy. You're not afraid to use them, right? Why should fire be any different?"

Aang nodded reluctantly. "I suppose," he said thoughtfully. "But water can heal, and both air and earth are primarily used for defence. Fire is mainly a destructive element – no matter what purpose it is used for."

Zuko sighed. "Sometimes," he agreed. "But it is fire that keeps me alive now."

Aang looked at him in surprise. "Really?" he asked curiously. "How does that work?"

Zuko shrugged. "I have no idea," he confessed with a wry smile. "Now, try the fire punch again, and this time really mean it."

With a nod Aang bounded to his feet and moved into an offensive stance. Concentrating, he punched out in front of him, feeling the fire flow through him. The result was considerably better than his previous attempts, but still a far cry from Zuko's powerful blasts – even before his death.

Zuko frowned. "Maybe we need to try another approach," he suggested thoughtfully, studying the surrounding area. "This looks like a good spot for a spar."

"Can I use the other elements?" Aang asked hopefully.

Zuko raised his eyebrow in amusement. "That would sort of defeat the purpose of trying to teach you firebending," he pointed out. "Besides, you've had plenty of experience at fighting fire with the other elements – now it's time that you learned to fight fire with fire."

Aang sighed, but obediently took a firebending stance. Zuko eyed it critically before nodding his approval. The Avatar might be reluctant to firebend but he was a quick learner. "Alright," Zuko said calmly, taking a stance himself. "I'm going to throw a fireball at you. I want you to block it and then throw one back. Got it?"

Looking surprisingly nervous for someone who had already mastered three elements, Aang nodded, then yelped and dodged the fireball that Zuko hurled in his direction.

"You're not going to learn if you just dodge the fire," Zuko remarked with a frown, tossing another fireball in the Avatar's direction. He was careful to keep the heat low – training flames were a lot cooler than the ones actually used in battle, although he may have neglected to mention that to the Avatar.

Aang airbent himself out of the way of the oncoming flame, and half-heartedly threw a fireball of his own in Zuko's direction. The prince brushed it aside like an insect and sent two back at his opponent in quick succession. Aang managed to block the first, but missed the second, twisting to the side at the last moment to avoid it. The fireball brushed against his arm, but wasn't hot enough to do any damage.

Unfortunately, this was where Katara walked in. Seeing the fight, she immediately assumed the worst and summoned a water whip from the nearby fountain. "Don't worry, Aang," she called, swinging the whip at the unsuspecting Zuko. "I won't let him hurt you."

Zuko turned around in surprise, only to be swept off his feet by the angry waterbender and thrown into the air.

In a moment that seemed to last for an age he heard Aang yelling at Katara, explaining that they had just been training, then he landed with a splash in the fountain. Zuko barely managed to suppress a scream as the water wrapped itself around him – icy cold fingers that dragged him under. It felt like his skin was on fire wherever the water touched him and as he slipped into unconsciousness he noticed that the air was filled with steam.

On dry land Aang and Katara stared in shock as the Prince struggled in the two foot deep water before rushing to his aid. The body they pulled from the now boiling water was pale and still.


	8. Chapter 8

_Strangely enough, Avatar: The Last Airbender does not, in fact, belong to me. _

_Once again, thanks for all the reviews everyone - absolutely loving the reponses._

* * *

Darkness swirled around Zuko as he struggled to sit up. Colours blended together in a kaleidoscope of unidentifiable images for several moments before finally settling into a blurred image of a brightly lit field of flowers. Blinking his eyes in confusion Zuko was alarmed to discover that not only did the image not disappear, it got clearer.

Of course, seeing properly could be said to be a good thing, but since Zuko was pretty sure that he'd never actually seen this particular field before and he was certain that there was nothing remotely similar to this place at the Western Air Temple, that meant that something was definitely wrong.

"Hello Zuko," a voice behind him said softly, causing Zuko to leapt up from the ground in alarm. He relaxed when he saw who the person was though.

"Lu Ten," he said, a rare smile brushing across his face. A thought occurred to him and he frowned in concern. "I'm in the spirit world again, aren't I?"

Lu Ten nodded in confirmation. "This is one of my favourite places here," he remarked, gesturing at the surrounding field.

Zuko ignored the natural wonders of the spirit world in favour of glaring at Lu Ten. "You said I couldn't die again," he scowled accusingly. "I was supposed to have three weeks."

Lu Ten shrugged. "You didn't drown, if that's what you mean," he offered calmly. "And just because you're dead it doesn't automatically make you invulnerable. You really should be more careful."

"It's not my fault," Zuko protested. "The waterbender attacked me without warning."

"And you really expect an opponent to offer warning before a fight?" Lu Ten asked with an amused glance. "I assure you, the warrior who killed me provided no such courtesy."

Zuko winced at the slight rebuke. "But I'm on their side now," he said with a sigh. "I know that I've messed up before, but she refuses to see that I've changed. How am I supposed to train the Avatar if she won't trust me firebending near him?"

"I thought you'd be more worried about how you're supposed to train him from the spirit world," Lu Ten pointed out calmly. "After all, it's not like you can firebend here."

"I'm stuck here?" Zuko cried out in alarm. "But its only been one day! The Avatar hasn't even mastered the basics of firebending yet."

"Two days," said Lu Ten with a sigh. "We can't send you back until noon on the day after the day you left."

"Why can't I go back sooner?" Zuko asked, puzzled.

"It's the fire spirits that have given you the energy to animate your body," Lu Ten explained patiently. "The water extinguished the energy that they gave you last time the spirits sent you back to the mortal world and severed your connection with that plane of existence. The only time that the fire spirits have enough power in both worlds to re-establish that connection and renew the energy required to keep your body active is at midday. Since that has already past on the day you left you will have to be sent back the day after."

Zuko considered this. 'What about the other spirits?" he asked. "Couldn't the water spirits or something send me back sooner?"

Lu Ten smiled. "Only if you want to try and learn waterbending," he replied in amusement. "Your powers are directly linked to whichever element animates your body."

"Perhaps not," Zuko decided, though he smirked as he imagined the expression on Katara's face if he came back with the ability to waterbend.

"I want you to take a message to my father," Lu Ten said suddenly, his face solemn.

Zuko nodded. "Of course."

"Tell him that it's time," Lu Ten said frowning. "And give him this – I believe he lost his during his escape." He pressed a small object into Zuko's hand and looked him solemnly in the eyes. "Tell that I love him and that I think of him constantly."

Zuko nodded as the world around him began to fade. "What's happening?" he asked in alarm.

"It's time for you to return," Lu Ten replied as he disappeared from sight. "Time works differently here…"

* * *

Meanwhile, in the Western Air Temple…

Aang stared at Zuko's body in horror as Katara tried to heal it with her waterbending. Unsurprisingly, it wasn't working – if anything it was probably making things worst.

"What do we tell Uncle Iroh?" he asked in growing alarm. "We can't exactly walk up to him and say 'Guess what? We killed your nephew – again.'"

Katara growled in frustration as her healing refused to help. "How do you heal someone that's already dead?" she asked in irritation. She paused and frowned. "How do you kill someone that's already dead?"

Aang stared at her in disbelief. "Surely you're not thinking of trying to kill Zuko?" he asked nervously.

Katara shook her head firmly. "No, what I meant is how come he looks all dead now if he was already deceased?"

Aang frowned thoughtfully. "I don't know," he said finally. "It must've been the water."

Katara glared at him. "This is so not my fault," she objected. "How was I supposed to know that he's allergic to water?"

"Well, I'm not explaining this to the others," Aang interjected swiftly. "Perhaps we could tell them that he's sleeping?"

"He's not sleeping, he's dead," Katara shouted in frustration, casting down her healing water in defeat. "There's nothing I can do about that."

"Maybe he just needs to dry out," Aang suggested hopefully. "If we leave him in the sun he might get better on his own."

"Or rot," Katara muttered under her breath, but she nodded to Aang. "It's worth a try I suppose," she conceded. "It's not like anyone will be able to tell the difference in the meantime."

"Right," Aang agreed nervously. "Besides, if he is alright, he won't be pleased if he wakes up and discovers that we've buried him or something while he was unconscious."

"Yes," Katara said with a frown. "That would annoy him." She turned to Aang with a sigh. "You should go get something to eat," she suggested gently. "I'll keep an eye on Zuko."

Aang shook his head. "I'm not hungry," he insisted. "I think I'll keep Zuko company for a while – just in case he wakes up." Katara nodded in understanding and silently sat beside him to help keep watch over the dead prince.

* * *

The sun was high in the sky when Zuko awoke, and he instinctively flinched away from the bright light.

Glancing at the sleeping forms of Katara and Aang with a puzzled frown he realised that he was still holding the object that Lu Ten had given him for his uncle. Opening his hand he found a Pai Sho tile with a white lotus painted onto one side.


	9. Chapter 9

_Eep, I_ _just realised how long it's been since I last updated. I am sooooo sorry guys! Please feel free to blame my professors for giving me exams to study for - unfortunately, as much as i'd like to hand in an Avatar story instead I doubt that I'd get very good marks..._

_Thanks to everyone who reviewed and read this story. If it's any consolation, uni's almost over for the semester..._

_As usual, Avatar: The Last Airbender belongs to people that I can't remember the names of._

* * *

Zuko frowned in recognition as he studied the tile, wondering why exactly Lu Ten had decided to give this particular tile to Uncle Iroh. As far as Zuko was concerned the tiles were nothing but trouble – he still held them responsible for the incident with the pirates. Oddly enough, his crew hadn't objected to that particular notion – probably figuring that it was better that the hot tempered prince blamed the painted tiles then themselves.

Tucking it carefully into his pocket, he thoughtfully studied the sleeping forms of the waterbender and the avatar, debating whether or not to wake them up. On one hand, he should really go find his Uncle as soon as possible, but on the other it probably wasn't a good idea to leave the two of them by themselves – especially if they had been waiting for him to recover.

With a sigh he bent down and gently shook the Avatar's shoulder – figuring that it was probably safer to wake him and let him wake the waterbender. One trip to the spirit world per day was quite enough, thank you. The only real problem with this plan however, was the Avatar's ability to sleep though pretty much anything when he was tired – including the efforts of an increasingly irritated prince to wake him up.

Finally giving up several minutes later, Zuko stepped back – and tripped over the sleeping form of Katara. Unfortunately, Katara proved to be a much light sleeper than Aang and woke up with a screech and summoned a water whip.

Zuko yelped and ducked behind a nearby rock. "It's just me," he called from his hiding spot. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to trip over you. Now can you please put the water away?"

Katara looked up in surprise at the sound of his voice. "Zuko!" she exclaimed, dropping the water and darting around the rock.

Zuko flinched as she dived on him and to his great surprise hugged him.

"I'm so sorry," she said remorsefully. "I didn't mean to kill you, honest. I didn't realise that you couldn't swim."

"I can too swim," Zuko protested with a frown. "I'm just kind of allergic to the water at the moment, what with been dead and all."

"Why didn't you say something then?" Katara responded with a glare. "I spent the whole night thinking that I'd killed you. If I get grey hairs I'm going to blame you."

"I wasn't exactly expecting to get thrown into a fountain," Zuko pointed out, climbing to his feet. "Besides, I didn't realise that water would have that sort of effect until it happened. They didn't exactly give me a guide book on being dead."

"So I helped you discover one of your weaknesses, then?" Katara said, looking cheerful again. "Now you can work on fixing it. So I sort of did you a favour."

Zuko raised an eyebrow at her logic. "I'm not really sure that you can 'fix' intolerance to water," he remarked sceptically.

"Well, at least now you know to avoid the water," Katara replied, wandering over to where Aang was still fast asleep. "Hey Aang, time to wake up."

To Zuko's intense surprise the Avatar woke up almost instantly. "How?" he asked in amazement.

Katara shrugged. "If I can wake Sokka up in the mornings, then I can wake anybody."

Privately Zuko thought it might have something to do with the Avatar's crush on Katara, but chose not to comment. Katara could be scary enough when she was in a good mood – he really didn't want to see her in a bad mood.

"Hey, you're alive!" Aang exclaimed cheerfully. "We thought that we'd killed you."

"So I heard," Zuko replied dryly. "I'm glad that your concern didn't keep you from your sleep."

Aang shrugged sheepishly. "Well, I was going to stay awake, but I figured that since you were resting you wouldn't mind if we did too."

"Right," Zuko said sceptically. "And since you missed most of training yesterday you can go practice your firebending for the rest of the afternoon. I want your fireballs to be twice the size they were yesterday by dinner time."

Aang groaned reluctantly, but took a firebending stance anyway. As Zuko walked away he overheard him asking Katara if she could make it rain anytime soon.

Shaking his head in amusement Zuko headed for the area of the temple where everyone was camped. Apparently the Avatar had forgotten that the temple was full of large empty rooms where he could practice even in the worst weather.

Reaching the campsite he looked around for his uncle, but the only person in sight was Sokka who was busy sharpening his sword. Noticing Zuko he leapt up, sword at the ready.

"What did you do with my sister?" he growled accusingly.

Zuko frowned. "Katara?"

"I only have the one sister," Sokka replied crossly, waving the sword in what Zuko supposed was supposed to be a threatening manner.

"That you know of," Zuko muttered under his breath. "I didn't do anything."

"Oh? Then how come you've both been missing since yesterday afternoon? If you've hurt her, or worst kissed her…"

Zuko frowned slightly at Sokka priorities. Apparently the watertribe boy was in no hurry to become an uncle. "Aang's been missing too," he pointed out. "And I didn't do anything. She threw me into a fountain."

Sokka chuckled at that. "Yeah, that does sound like Katara," he admitted. "But that doesn't explain her absence."

Zuko sighed. "The water knocked me unconscious for the past twenty or so hours. I guess she was waiting to see if I'd wake up. She's watching the Avatar train at the moment I think, if you want to go check on her."

Sokka considered it for a moment then shook his head. "No, she'll probably find some chore for me to do if I interrupt her buddy time with Aang," he decided. "Besides, Katara can look after herself quite well."

That Zuko definitely could agree with, having fought the waterbender at the North Pole a while ago. "Well, now that's been cleared up, have you seen my uncle?"

Sokka thought about this for a minute. "I think he and Toph went looking for plants to make tea with this morning. I haven't seen them since then."

Zuko groaned. "That sounds like my Uncle. Did he say when he'd get back?"

Sokka shook his head. "No, but I'm sure they'll be back by dinner."

"I guess I'll have to wait for him," Zuko decided, studying the thick forest surrounding the air temple. "I doubt I'll be able to find them in this."

"Well," Sokka said, eyeing the prince thoughtfully. "Since you've got time to kill, would you like to spar? I can't really practice with the others because they only use bending, but I noticed that you have a broadsword."

"Alright," Zuko agreed after a moment's consideration. "Why not?"


	10. Chapter 10

_Yes! FINALLY finished my exams._

_Sorry about the slow updates - I'll try to update quicker now that I'm not so busy and my brain doesn't hurt as much. LOL. Just want to thank everybody out there who reviewed and read this story._

_Disclaimer: Avatar: The Last Airbender, through an unfortunate and utterly unfair twist of fate does not and has never belonged to me. Stupid fate._

* * *

Swinging his swords casually Zuko circled Sokka, watching for an opening. It had been a while since he'd had a proper match with the blades – most benders didn't bother learning another fighting style, so there weren't a lot of opportunities for him to use the skills that he's spent years perfecting.

Unlike his firebending, the sword had come naturally to him – the sharp metal effortlessly becoming an extension of his body. Studying the watertribe boy's movements Zuko could see that he had skill, though it still lacked the polish of an experienced warrior.

"Come on then," he said, smirking at the younger boy. "Are we going to fight or do you plan on just standing there all day?"

Sokka scowled. "I didn't realise you were in such a hurry to lose," he retorted, swinging his sword at Zuko's head.

Zuko calmly stepped back, out of harm's way. "I'm too busy training the Avatar to teach sword fighting basics to a peasant," he replied, still not bothering to go on the offensive.

"Hey, I was trained by Master Piandao," Sokka objected. "And he said that I was good."

Zuko frowned, momentarily distracted. "Master Piandao? I've heard of him – he's supposed to be extremely good. I thought he lived in the Fire Nation though?"

Sokka shrugged, taking advantage of Zuko's apparent lapse in concentration to try and slip under his guard. "We were passing through on our way to meet up with the invasion and I thought it might be useful to learn how to sword fight."

Zuko parried Sokka's attempt to stab him aside with ease, and quickly shifted into an attack, forcing Sokka onto the defensive. "Well, you've certainly improved since the first time we fought," he remarked, calmly striking at the other boy's defences, his sword a blur of sharpened steel. "Though, all things considered, it'd be hard for you not to have. At least you're staying on your feet this time."

Sokka yelped as Zuko's sword flashed too close to his ear for comfort. "I'm a powerful warrior of the Watertribe," he protested. "I led the invasion on the day of the black sun, you know."

"The one that failed?" Zuko asked innocently, stepping back quickly as Sokka attacked ferociously.

"We weren't expecting them to be expecting us," Sokka replied crossly. "It's not my fault that your insane sister went and ruined the surprise."

"I don't think that it's the sort of surprise that the Fire Lord would've liked much anyway," Zuko replied thoughtfully. "He always did prefer to know everything in advance. That's why he wanted the Avatar out of the picture."

"He wasn't supposed to like it, he was supposed to lose," Sokka grumbled, pushing forward his attack.

Zuko stepped back, making sure that the cliff was still a fair way behind him. It probably wouldn't kill him if he fell over the edge, but he was willing to bet that it would hurt – a lot. "Do you really think that Aang could've won?" he asked calmly.

Sokka shrugged, and Zuko took the opportunity to strike at his unprotected side. Sokka leapt back with a yelp, stumbling slightly on the uneven ground. "He would've had to, I suppose. There isn't really any other choice."

"True, but the Fire Lord is very dangerous. The Avatar may be powerful, but without mastery of fire his abilities are limited. Perhaps things worked out this way for a reason. Now when the Avatar fights the Fire Lord he'll have the power of all four elements on his side."

Sokka sighed, circling Zuko slightly looking for an opening. "Sometimes it's hard to believe that there's so much power in such a young boy. I know that technically he's over a hundred years old, but he looks younger than my sister. Yet, he's the one destined to fight the Fire Lord and save us all."

"The Fire Lord won't have mercy on him just because he's a child," Zuko said seriously. "I know this for a fact."

Sokka looked at him questioningly, but Zuko's face remained expressionless. His eyes were haunted though, and for the first time Sokka wondered what life had really been like for the young prince. After all, it was rather unusual for a prince to be hunting someone that had vanished for a hundred years, and to be chased by his own sister as well.

Zuko took advantage of Sokka's distraction to slip under his guard and land a light blow with the flat of his sword.

Sokka leapt aside with a glare and doubled his efforts to land a blow on the fire prince.

It was at this time that Katara decided to leave Aang to his training – fireballs were only so exciting after all – and go see what her brother was up to. She hadn't seen him in a while, what with drowning Zuko and all that, and it wouldn't surprise her if he had managed to land himself in some kind of trouble in her absence.

Entering the clearing she glanced around for Sokka, and nearly had a heart attack as she watched Zuko's blade miss decapitating him by half an inch. She reflexively grabbed some water from a nearby pool before she managed to force herself to calm down and watch the fight.

Studying the two fighters closer she realised that they were just sparring, although Zuko's blades were still coming far too close to her brother for her piece of mind. Either he didn't have much control, or he was very confident in his ability. Having fought Zuko before she was inclined to believe the latter. She noted with interest that his sword fighting seemed to possess a stealthy grace that his firebending lacked.

Moving closer to get a better look, she stepped on a dry branch, causing it to break with a resounding crack. Sokka didn't even notice it, but Zuko instinctively glanced in her direction at the sound. He flinched slightly at the sight of the waterbender and the large globe of water floating calmly at her side that she had all but forgotten about.

Sokka leapt forward, making the most of Zuko's distraction and stuck at his stomach, expecting Zuko to block it with his usual panther-like speed. Still distracted by Katara's appearance, Zuko moved to block a fraction too late. Sokka's blade sliced through his flesh, creating a wide gash that oozed thick, dark almost black blood.

Even as Sokka backed away, spluttering apologies the wound began to heal itself. Within seconds, the only sign that Zuko had ever been injured was a ragged bloody tear in his shirt and a slight flickering glow to the freshly healed skin.

Sokka stopped apologising and stared at it in disbelief. "Hey, that's not fair. No using your creepy undead powers to win," he exclaimed hotly.

"You're just jealous," Katara remarked. "I bet you would've liked those sort of healing powers when you got those fishhooks in your thumb."

Sokka scowled and Zuko looked puzzled. "Fishhooks?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

"It was a long time ago," Sokka snapped. "Are we going to spar or stand around and gossip?"

"I'll tell you later," Katara remarked with a smirk. "It's a fantastic story."

Sokka glared at her. "And I'm sure that Zuko would be fascinated to hear about some of the stuff that you got up to as a child. Like the time that you threw a tantrum and sank Dad's canoe! It'll be a good bonding experience – swap tales of our annoying younger sisters."

"Homicidal in my case," Zuko remarked wryly, readying his sword. "Are you ready?"

"Just waiting for you to recover," Sokka said with a grin, turning away from his sister, which was probably a mistake judging by the ball of water that hit him in the back of his head. He yelped and cast a glare in her direction. "Don't worry though, I've been taking it easy on you."

"Is that so?" Zuko remarked with a frown.

Sokka nodded cheerfully. "It's okay, if you practise hard enough I'm sure you'll be as good as me one day."

"Well, if that's the case I guess I should make this more challenging for you," Zuko said calmly, splitting his sword into its two halves with a deft twist of his wrist.

Sokka's jaw dropped. "Hey, you can't use two swords. That's cheating," he protested.

"Actually, they're just the two halves of the one sword," Zuko explained. "So it's not cheating."

A couple of metres away Katara could barely stand upright she was laughing so hard at the expression on Sokka's face.

The two warriors took a fighting stance, and Sokka made the first move – only to scramble backwards as Zuko's swords approached in a seamless blur of metal. Before he had a chance to even contemplate a counter-attack, Zuko had disarmed him in an effortless twist of his swords.

Sokka stared at his sword lying on the ground several feet away in disbelief. "I still say it's cheating to split your sword in two like that," he muttered, as he conceded victory to the fire prince and went to retrieve his sword.

"Don't worry," Zuko said calmly. "You're actually quite good. I'm sure if you practice you'll be as good as me someday."

Sokka scowled at him, while Katara unsuccessfully tried to stifle her laughter.


	11. Chapter 11

_I like to offer a HUGE apology to everyone who was reading this back when it was started - 2 years ago. I know that's been an awfully long time, and I would like to extend my gratitude for anyone who's stuck around for this long. (-: _

_Much as I'd like to say that I have a good reason for leaving it this long, I'm of the opinion that none of the events in my life over the past 2 years really justify neglecting the story for such an extended length of time, so instead I'll just apologise again..._

_Disclaimer: Avatar - The Last Airbender still does not belong to me, despite my various attempts to remedy the situation over the last two years._

_

* * *

_

Fortunately for Zuko's sanity, Uncle Iroh returned shortly after the sparring match. Sokka had spent the entire afternoon sulking that he'd lost - doubtlessly not helped by the fact that Katara still burst into laughter every time she saw him - and Zuko was relieved to see a friendly face.

"I need to speak to you Uncle," he said quietly, catching the General on his way into the camp, his arms filled with strange plants and berries. Eyeing them suspiciously, Zuko was felt glad for the first time since he'd died that he no longer needed to eat or drink. Besides, given his recent experience with the fountain, he doubted that drinking tea would be as beneficial for his health as his uncle seemed to believe.

Toph had looked suspicious, but didn't complain when Uncle Iroh asked her to take the ingredients back to the camp. Zuko rather strongly suspected that she intended to eavesdrop anyway, but there wasn't a lot he could do about it, short of borrowing the Avatar's bison for a while. Given his dislike of heights, he figured that the earthbender was the lesser evil.

"What's the problem?" his uncle asked him calmly once Zuko had judged them to be a sufficient distance from the camp. Wordlessly, Zuko handed him the tile. His uncle took it with a frown, taking in the white lotus painted delicately on one side.

"Where did you come by this?" his uncle asked urgently.

"Lu Ten gave it to me," Zuko told him gravely, noting with alarm the way his uncle's face paled at the mention of his deceased son. "He said to tell you that it's time and that he loves you and is thinking of you."

Uncle Iroh nodded, studying the tile thoughtfully. "I wonder how he knew?"

"What does it mean?" Zuko asked him curiously.

His uncle sighed. "It means that I'm going to have to go away for a while. There are some people I have to get in contact with."

"You're leaving?" Zuko asked in dismay. He had so little time left, it seemed the height of cruelty that he wouldn't be able to share it with his uncle.

"I fear I must," his uncle said sadly, watching his beloved nephew struggle to hide his emotions. "It won't be for long though. I'll be back before the three weeks are up, I promise. I may be able to find someone who can help us with your condition."

"Being dead isn't a condition, uncle," Zuko pointed out sternly. "It's not like I can take some medication for it and be alive again."

"You mustn't give up hope," Uncle Iroh told him firmly. "The spirits have given us a chance to make this right. We can't let this opportunity slip away."

"I'm not," Zuko said dismissively. "I'm here to train the Avatar and I'll make him a firebender even if I have to brainwash him to do it."

His uncle looked a little wary. "I'm sure there's no need to go to such an extreme," he noted.

Zuko shrugged. "No, but he has to learn and quickly. He's still far too timid."

Uncle Iroh gazed off into the distance thoughtfully. Recognising the look, Zuko sighed and hoped that this time it wouldn't lead to another search for pai sho tiles. "Perhaps he just needs the proper motivation?" his uncle suggested at last.

"I've already tried throwing fire balls at him," Zuko protested. "He just keeps using his other powers."

"He's the Avatar, so it's not a question of ability," his uncle pointed out. "If he's timid then maybe there's a reason for it?"

Zuko frowned, thinking back over his conversations with Aang. "He said that he once hurt the waterbender when he was trying to learn firebending," he remembered finally. A grin crept over his face as an idea came to him. "It's a good thing that the waterbender owes me a favour for trying to drown me," he noted.

"Don't do anything too drastic," his uncle cautioned, having spent enough time around the young prince to recognise when Zuko had an idea and to know that most of Zuko's ideas had a habit of ending badly.

Zuko just shrugged and turned to head back to the camp. "I'll see you at dinner," he told his uncle, various ways to make his scheme work darting through his mind. It felt good to have a specific goal to work on, training the Avatar was just as frustratingly vague as capturing the Avatar had been. Neither had done much good for his patience.

"You're planning something," a voice accused suddenly, causing Zuko to startle and instinctively drop into a firebending stance. While it was unlikely that his sister would even think to look for him, let alone try to kill him again, he still felt on edge most of the time. Being a fugitive hadn't done a lot of good for his peace of mind.

Much to his relief it was just the earthbender standing behind a nearby tree where she'd been shamelessly listening in on his conversation with his uncle. She stepped out into the open, her blind eyes glaring in somewhat the right direction.

"I don't know what you mean," Zuko told her innocently, thankful that she couldn't tell whether he was lying or not.

Unfortunately, it appeared that he didn't need a heartbeat for her not to believe him, if the uncomfortably large rock that she sent flying in his direction was any indication.

He yelped, ducking to one side. "Alright, alright. If you must know I have an idea to help train the Avatar. Satisfied?"

She tilted her head at him thoughtfully. "Nope," she concluded with a grin. "It sounds like fun. I want to help."


	12. Chapter 12

_Huge thanks to everyone who reviewed - I really appreciate your feedback. (-:_

_Nope, still don't own it. Still wishing I did, but Avatar: The Last Airbender does not, at this point in time, belong to me._

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Unfortunately, Zuko was unable to dissuade Toph from her decision to help, which is how he found himself trailing behind her as they tried to find the best location to try his idea. The biggest problem with the scheme was that it had to be somewhere that Aang's other bending skills would be less effective than fire, which given that at least two of the other elements were generally in abundance, was proving rather difficult.

Water was a fairly easy element to avoid, especially with Toph to check for the presence of any underground streams, since the Avatar rarely thought to carry around water in a pouch like Katara did, showing what Zuko considered to be a rather unfortunate dependence on his primary skill of airbending. Incidentally, it was the airbending that was causing them the most grief on their little excursion, given that air was pretty much everywhere, and no amount of scouting was going to change that.

"What about over there?" he asked, pointing to a nice flat looking field that was safely away from any visible water sources. He wasn't feeling very kindly towards water at that time, so he considered it rather fortunate that his plan required a distinct lack of water in the vicinity.

Toph shook her head dismissively. "The ground's too soft," she stated matter-of-factly. "He'll be able to use it for both water and earthbending. Ideally the best place to set this up would be on a huge sheet of metal, since he can't metalbend."

Zuko glared at her, which was harmless enough given that she couldn't see him. Ever since he'd been coerced into sharing his plan with the young earthbender she'd completely taken over, trampling ruthlessly over any complaints he had on the subject. Which, he had to concede, was slightly better than her trampling over him, rapid healing abilities or not.

"I am not finding a giant sheet of metal just to teach an incompetent Avatar how to firebend," he said firmly, wincing slightly as Toph looked rather thoughtful at the idea.

"You wouldn't need a sheet," she mused, pausing to focus on the vibrations in the ground beneath her. "Any large lump of metal would do and I could just bend it into whatever shape we need."

"I am not going to wander around that death-trap of a temple looking for large pieces of metal," he ground out, struggling to keep his patience. He was a prince, not an errand boy. "Not only is it too much work, it's also highly suspicious. Aang might be naive, but he's not a complete moron. Besides, can't you just find a chunk of raw metal and mine it?"

Toph looked thoughtfully as she considered the idea. "Hey, I could start my own gold mine."

Zuko groaned. He had a nasty feeling that he was going to regret giving her that idea.

Suddenly Toph looked up, her face intent. "Someone's coming," she hissed. "Try not to look suspicious."

"Why would I look suspicious?" Zuko asked her indignantly.

"You always look suspicious," she informed him cheerfully. "I think it's your sparkling personality."

He scowled, glancing up at the sound of a twig breaking nearby. Whoever their visitor was, they were getting closer. A thud and a familiar ouch drifted across to where they were standing, and Zuko relaxed. It was just Sokka.

The watertribe boy stumbled into the clearing with his usual lack of grace and stopped, looking surprised to see them.

"What are you doing out here with Toph?" he asked Zuko accusingly. "First you disappear with my sister, and now Toph? You two-timing..."

He was cut off with a thud as the rock that Toph bent at him collided with his head. "Ow!" he complained, clutching at the side of his head where it'd hit him. "What did you do that for?"

"You were being stupid," Toph informed him matter-of-factly.

"Well, that's hardly out of the ordinary for him," Zuko pointed out in amusement, smirking at the scowling peasant.

Sokka glared at them. "What is this, gang up on Sokka day?" he asked in annoyance.

Toph grinned. "That's a brilliant idea. Let's have one once a week."

"Only one?" Zuko asked, enjoying watching the various expressions of irritation that the boy was making. "That doesn't seem like enough somehow."

"Oh, very funny," Sokka said, treating Zuko to a death glare. "Since when did you two hang around together anyway?"

"Since we started work on a plan to help train Twinkle-toes," Toph said cheerfully, stomping up a stone seat which she perched happily on.

"Yeah, what did you have in mind?" Sokka asked curiously.

"It's supposed to be a secret," Zuko muttered crossly, glaring at the happily oblivious Toph. "I don't want Aang to find out in advance."

"I won't tell," Sokka assured him eagerly, then frowned. "Unless you're trying to capture him, of course."

Zuko scowled, holding onto his temper through sheer force of will. "For the last time, I'm not here to capture the Avatar," he snapped.

"Okay, okay, no need to get so uppity about it," Sokka said, holding his hands up in mock supplication. "So what's this plan and what's my part?"

Toph grinned, her expression hinting at trouble to come. "I think Sokka here would make a great villain, wouldn't you say Sparky?"

"Villain? Why do I have to be the villain? Zuko's a natural for the part, let him be the bad guy. I want to be the hero and save the girl," Sokka protested, puffing his chest out as he imagined the heroic scene, the grateful maiden throwing herself into his arms with gratitude for his amazing rescue.

A yelp soon followed as Toph directed a series of pebbles in his direction. "Idiot. Twinkle Toes has to be the hero, that's the whole point of this whole exercise. Besides, the damsel in distress is going to be Katara and if you rush in chances are she'll have to end up rescuing you."

"I still don't see why I should be the villain," Sokka grumbled, crossing his arms stubbornly.

Zuko suppressed a groan. This was going to end badly, he could feel it in his bones.


	13. Chapter 13

_Once again, a huge thanks to all my wonderful reviewers and readers. _

_Disclaimer: Despite all my blackmail attempts, I've still yet to gain ownership of the show. Maybe I'll have better luck with the movie... _

_Seriously, am I the only one who thinks it's neat that we get a movie? Though I must say, I'm kind of holding my breath in the 'you've* managed to ruin several cartoons into movies attempts so far, but somehow I still have hope that this will turn out to be awesome' sense. Fingers crossed in any case. (*Nothing against the director - I mean movies in general)._

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Aang was feeling rather bored. Appa was fed, Momo was off chasing some bird-like creature, Toph and Sokka had decided to go hunting and Zuko had proclaimed him to be the worst firebender he'd ever seen and had stormed off in a huff to go calm down. Aang had considered suggesting that the prince try some of the tea that his uncle had left them, but had fortunately realised that reminding the temperamental firebender that his uncle was off on some secret mission might not be a good idea.

This left Aang with nothing to do, so he decided to see if Katara wanted to practice waterbending with him. Even though they were both quite proficient at waterbending, he'd noticed that she liked to stay in practice. Given that it seemed to help her calm down, no one in the group was complaining, though her waterbending sessions had increased tenfold ever since Zuko had showed up and announced that he would teach Aang to firebend. The young Avatar suspected that there was a connection there, somewhere.

Heading towards the section of the temple where he'd seen her last, he was surprised to find that she was nowhere to be seen. Even more disturbing was the presence of several large puddles and a few icicles scattered around the campsite. Given that the weather was fairly sunny, if a little cold at nights, he surmised that Katara was responsible for the icicles at least. What puzzled him though was the fact that she'd left them lying around like that. He scratched his head, considering the matter. Out of the entire group, Katara was the tidiest, with Zuko coming in a close second - though the fact that he never seemed to eat may have contributed to that. It seemed odd that she would start leaving water and ice lying around where people might slip on them all of a sudden.

As if in response to his silent musings, a loud scream pierced the air from some distance away. Startled, Aang leapt several feet in the air before calming enough to realise who the scream belonged to.

"Katara," he yelled in anguish, grabbing his kite and leaping into the air. Desperately he wished that one of the others, any of the others, had stuck around instead of wandering off to do their own thing. It would have been nice to have someone else to help him rescue Katara.

It didn't take him long to locate her - after all, tying someone to a post in the middle of a clearing wasn't exactly the most efficient way of hiding someone. If Aang had been thinking clearly, he might have considered that the entire situation spoke rather loudly of a trap, but he wasn't, so he simply proceeded to rush into the clearing without even stopping to look for the person who had put Katara there in the first place.

This was rather unfortunate, given that the person was watching for him. Aang made it halfway across the clearing to where Katara was struggling against the ropes tying her to the post before he was confronted by a menacing looking person dressed entirely in gray and wearing a scowling black mask. The figure reluctantly approached Aang and half-heartedly brandished a non-descript looking sword with a red hilt, possibly poached from a firenation soldier.

"Move another step and the girl gets it," the figure growled, his voice unnaturally deep.

Aang glared at him. "Leave her alone," he yelled. "I won't let you hurt her."

The man hesitated for a moment, but a slight tremor in the earth convinced him to continue. He pointed his sword somewhat warily in the direction of the tied up waterbender. "If you want to save her, then you'll have to defeat me," he announced bravely.

Aang responded by hurling a blast of wind at him, ignoring the man's startled yelp.

He stumbled back a bit, then recovered his footing. "Hah, like a little bit of air is going to hurt me. You'd have to be the greatest firebender in the world to stop me," he taunted, his posture wary.

"You can do it Aang," Katara called out encouragingly, twisting about in her bonds in order to get a better view.

The masked figure glared at her, then adopted a poor imitation of a bending stance. "Prepare to die, Avatar," he announced in his deep voice and swung the sword wildly.

Aang leapt back in surprise as a wall of flames rushed towards him. Apparently the man's rather unorthodox style of bending worked after all. For a moment he wondered wistfully if he could somehow convince the man to teach him - it looked a lot easier than all the exercises that Zuko was making him learn. Shaking his head to clear it, he forced himself to concentrate on the battle. Using his airbending, he managed to leap up out of the reach of the flames.

Landing, he quickly twisted himself into an earthbending stance and made to send a wall of dirt at the rather nervous looking attacker. To his surprise and horror, the earth refused to obey his commands. He managed to create a sluggish ripple in the ground which faded to nothing long before it reached the masked stranger. Aang frowned, confused. If the man hadn't already established himself as a firebender then he would have suspected that another earthbender was controlling the ground.

Glancing around, he realised to his dismay that there was no water to be seen. Katara's water pouch hung empty at her side, clearly having been used in her attempt to defend herself earlier, and despite all her nagging, he'd once again forgotten to carry one himself. That left air and firebending, and he knew from experience with Zuko over the years that airbending wasn't all that efficient against fire.

"Aang, do something. Don't just stand there," Katara yelled, apparently frustrated by the length of time that it was taking to rescue her.

Making up his mind, Aang took a deep breath and moved into one of the stances that Zuko had spent the last couple of days trying to drum into his head. Focusing his energy, he punched the air, sending a huge ball of fire towards the hapless kidnapper. The man yelped, scrambling to get out of the way before the inferno hit. At the last minute a wall of earth appeared in front of him, sheltering the man from the worst of the blast.

"Dammit, why did you wait until I was nearly toast?" the man yelled furiously into the surrounding woods as soon as the danger had passed, the target of his anger apparently hidden among the trees.

"Don't be ridiculous Snoozles, you were in no danger," his accomplice replied, Toph calmly making her way out into the open. "Congratulations on firebending Twinkletoes.

Aang looked on open-mouthed as the man removed his mask to reveal Sokka. "What? How? I don't understand," he spluttered.

"We were trying to help you," Katara explained, freeing herself from the ropes with ease. "It worked, didn't it?"

"Sure, if you ignore the fact that he tried everything but firebending first," Zuko muttered, making his way out of hiding where he'd been providing Sokka with his firebending abilities. Granted the Avatar was finally starting to show some improvement, but it would have been nice if he'd actually checked the terrain before rushing into battle. That way he wouldn't have had to run through all his available options in the middle of a fight, wasting valuable time.

"Don't be such a killjoy," Katara chided him, hurrying over to check Aang for any injuries. "He did very well."

"Hey, what about me? I almost got roasted here," Sokka spluttered indignantly. "Isn't anyone going to ask if I'm alright?"

Looking around, he realised that he was talking to himself. Katara had already taken off with Aang to fuss over him and Zuko and Toph were happily exchanging perspectives of the mock battle as they headed back to camp. "Save the day and this is all the thanks I get?" he muttered, picking up the sword and trudging back to camp. "And it's Zuko's turn to cook. I know he doesn't eat much, but it had better be edible this time."


	14. Chapter 14

_Once again, a huge thanks to my wonderful reviewers. I'd like to apologise in advance for any errors - I have a terrible cold and everytime I try to concentrate on what I'm writing I break into a coughing fit, which is rather distracting. Be thankful that germs aren't transmutable via computer - I've already managed to make half my workmates sick...(sorry guys)._

_My plans for Global Conquest are underway, so I suppose Avatar will be mine by default when I conquer the world. In the meantime however, The Last Airbender does not and has not ever belonged to me. _

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"There's no meat," Sokka whined, staring mournfully into the depths of Katara's cooking pot.

"That's because you ate it all, you big baby," Toph replied, slamming her hand into the ground and chuckling at the yelp that followed the rock she sent flying in Sokka's direction. "Maybe if you didn't consume twice your body weight daily, we wouldn't keep running out of food."

Sokka glared at the earthbender, conveniently ignoring the fact that it wouldn't do him a lot of good. "You're one to talk," he scoffed. "You eat just as much...Ouch!" he trailed off, rubbing the newly formed bruise on his arm sulkily.

Much to Zuko's relief, Katara stepped in to defuse the situation before it could turn into an all out brawl. He'd be willing to place money that Toph would be the victor of such a battle, but that didn't mean that he particularly felt like being nearby if they were to start fighting.

"Some of us will just have to make a trip into town," she announced firmly. "Who hasn't been lately?"

"I'll go," Toph promptly volunteered. "It'll be nice to have a break from your idiot brother."

"I haven't been in ages," Aang piped up hopefully. "How about I go?"

Zuko glared at him. "You have training to do," he reminded him, annoyed that the avatar was trying to get out of training again. True, he had improved immensely since their mock kidnapping, but the airbender still had a tendency to get distracted by every little thing. The day before, Zuko had left Aang practising a move for a few minutes while he went to get some fresh air, and had come back to find the avatar chasing butterflies. It couldn't bode well for the future of the world.

"But I've been practising all week. I can create a flame now and everything," Aang protested, his crestfallen face tugging at Zuko's sympathy - but not enough for him to let the world's last hope slack off.

"It's not a good idea for you to go in case you get recognised," Katara pointed out. "Besides, if you stay we can practice our waterbending together."

Watching Aang's face light up, Zuko absently wondered whether he should consider using training time with Katara as an incentive for the avatar to learn firebending.

"Well, I went last time," Sokka pointed out, scratching his head. "I guess that makes it Zuko's turn."

At his name, the fire prince looked up in surprise. "Me?" he asked. "But I don't even eat. Besides I have to teach the Avatar."

"He needs to practice the moves you've already shown him," Toph said dismissively. "Besides, it'll be good for you to get out of the camp for a while."

Which is how Zuko found himself slogging through the thick underbrush on the way to the nearest village accompanied by an unusually cheerful earthbender.

"You seem happy to be away from the camp," he remarked finally, her off-tune humming finally annoying him enough to goad him into speech.

She shrugged. "It's nice that everyone's such a big happy family," she said with a wry smile. "But I grew up as an only child. Sometimes it gets a bit much, you know?"

Zuko found himself nodding in understanding, forgetting that she couldn't see the gesture. "I know what you mean. It was so quiet at the palace, except for when Azula was around of course, but here there's constantly noise. It's very different."

"It's nice once you get used to it," she reassured him.

Zuko frowned. "Yeah," he said, forcing his voice to sound positive. "I'm sure it is." Unfortunately, he wasn't going to have the time to get used to it. A week had passed already, leaving only two weeks until the time that the spirits had allotted to him ran out. It was ironic - now that he finally had reasons to enjoy life, he wasn't going to be allowed the time to do so. He'd have said that it wasn't fair, but since when had anything in his life been fair? If anything, he was getting rather used to expecting the worst. With a sister like Azula that was the safest strategy in any case.

Toph came to an abrupt halt, her blind eyes staring at him accusingly. "Your voice sounded weird. I mightn't be able to sense your heartbeat, but I still tell when you're evading something. What aren't you telling us?"

Zuko felt a moment of blind panic, suddenly absurdly grateful that his heart wasn't working - otherwise it would most likely be trying to beat its way out of his chest.

"It's nothing," he managed, his voice a bit higher than normal. "There was a bug in my mouth, that's all. No reason to get all suspicious."

Toph looked decidedly unconvinced. "You're a terrible liar," she told him matter-of-factly. "I don't need to be a human lie detector to know when you're not telling the truth. So spill."

Zuko sighed, once again lamenting the fact that he lacked his sister's ability to lie and persuade. Insane though she was, Azula could probably convince an ostrich horse that it was a turtle-duck if she really felt like it. Of course, Azula would probably just kill both of the creatures for the fun of it, so it was rather a moot point.

"It's just that the spirits gave me a limited amount of time to train the Avatar," he admitted finally. "I've only got two weeks left."

"The comet arrives in two weeks anyway," Toph pointed out with a frown. "What difference does it make? If Aang's not ready by then there won't be enough of the world left for him to save."

Zuko remained silent as the blind earthbender thought the matter over some more.

"What happens after the comet?" she asked perceptively. "You said that you were dead. Do you stay like you are now? Because if you do I want to spar. I'm stick of going easy on opponents and you can always heal yourself."

"The spirits have more important things to do then to keep me semi-alive," Zuko told her solemnly, watching her sightless eyes widen as she realised the meaning behind his words.

"You mean that you're going to die? Again?" she asked, her expression curiously blank.

Zuko found himself nodding before he caught himself. "Yes," he told her. "I'm here on borrowed time as it is." He was startled when she wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug, before collecting herself.

"We'll just have to make the most of the time you do have then," she said firmly. "Which means getting some food before sugar-queen decides to drown you again."

"Good idea," he replied, wincing slightly at the thought of an irate waterbender.

Stepping ahead, he missed seeing the sorrowful look that passed over Toph's face. She was not happy with this latest development - Zuko had suffered enough in his life without the spirits toying with him like this.

Hurrying to catch up, she resolved to do her best to make his last two weeks as fun as possible.


	15. Chapter 15

Once again a tremendous thank you to everyone that reviewed. (-:

I don't own Avatar: The Last Airbender (and as far as the movie is concerned, that's probably just as well...)

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The fire nation town was nothing special, especially in comparison to the bustling civilisation that surrounded the fire nation palace, but it did have a decent sized market place. This was rather unfortunate, since it didn't take Zuko long to get lost.

He and Toph had split up in an attempt to get the shopping done faster, thereby reducing the risk that someone might recognise one of them. Blind or not, Toph was more than capable of taking care of herself - her earthbending preventing her from getting lost. Neither of them had even stopped to consider that Zuko might the one at a disadvantage.

To be fair, he'd had limited experience with markets - Ba Sing Se being the longest he'd ever spent in a town. The fire nation certainly didn't encourage their royals to associate with the commoners, and during his three years at sea he'd spent most of his time at port trying to convince his uncle to return to the ship, so he hadn't had a lot of opportunities to gain familiarity with markets.

This was how Zuko found himself wandering down a decrepit alleyway, trying to hide how desperately he was looking for Toph in the crowded marketplace.

"Care to have your fortune read, boy?" an elderly crone leered at him, grabbing his hand in her deceptively strong ones before Zuko had a chance to protest.

"Unhand me this instant," he demanded as he tried to tug his hand free, but the woman clung onto it determinedly, flipping it over to study the lines running across his palm.

"So much sadness and misfortune," she murmured, tracing several of the lines with a gnarled thumb. Zuko manfully resisted the urge to fry her to a crisp.

"Your love line is jagged," the woman continued, blissfully unaware of the growing fury on Zuko's face. "You've spent long periods apart from those you care about." Suddenly she gasped and, to Zuko's relief, dropped his hand.

"What is it?" he asked irritably, figuring that if he'd had to endure the woman's oddities then he might as well find out what she had seen.

She looked up at him, her expression grave. Zuko had to fight not to recoil from the sorrow in her eyes. "Your life line," she said finally. "It's very short. So short that I'm surprised you're still alive. I'm sorry, but I suggest you enjoy what time you have left."

Inexplicably, Zuko felt relieved at her words. He'd already known that - the way she had been looking at him he'd been afraid that they were doomed to lose the war or something. Wasting no time in escaping the strange old woman, he found a quiet place in the market to wait for Toph, not wishing to have to deal with anymore crazy people.

He'd almost dozed off by the time that Toph appeared, chucking two heavy bags of food at his head.

"Give up already, sparky?" she asked, crossing her arms as she stared in his direction.

Zuko climbed to his feet, brushing the dirt off his pants as he did so. "I remembered that you had all the money," he replied, picking up the bags. "How was I supposed to help with the shopping if I couldn't pay for anything?"

She smirked. "I was wondering how long it would take for you to realise that. And I figured that you wouldn't know how to bargain properly, being a prince and all, so I thought I'd let you enjoy the market."

"Gee, thanks," Zuko muttered, appreciating the thought but disliking having been left to fend for himself with all the crazy people. He cast a suspicious eye over the crowd in case the old fortune-teller had returned while he'd been distracted.

"You're welcome," Toph told him cheerfully. "Now are you going to get those back to camp or are you hoping that they'll grow legs and walk back?"

In answer, Zuko ruffled her hair and turned to head back into the forest, ignoring her cry of protest. She was like the little sister that he'd secretly hoped Azula would be, back before the crazed girl had managed to dispel any notions he might have had about being friends.

They stopped for lunch once they were a safe distance away from the town, Zuko dropping the bags with relief. Whatever Toph had decided to buy, it was heavy. Not for the first time, he was impressed with the earthbender's strength, given that she'd carried them around the market herself before dumping them on him.

Toph settled down to devour her food while Zuko kept watch for trouble. Dying had made him rather paranoid. He was so focused on the trees around them, that he was surprised when he glanced back at Toph only to find her standing right in front of him, holding a small bag out for him to take.

"What is it?" he asked, accepting the bag and regarding in with curiousity.

"You're supposed to open it and find out," Toph told him, sitting down across from him with a muffled thump.

He watched her expression carefully for a moment, but she seemed sincere and she wasn't wearing the smirk that she had when she was playing a prank on someone, usually Sokka. Mentally shrugging, he pulled the bag open and glanced inside.

"Coal?" he asked, arching his eyebrow in disbelief. "You're giving me a bag of coal? What for?"

She shrugged, clearly striving to appear nonchalant, but Zuko noticed a hint of sheepishness in her demeanour. "I figured that since you can't eat normal food and since it's fire that's keeping you alive, you might be able to eat it." She rubbed the back of her neck uncertainly.

Zuko looked at her and then the coal in surprise. It was the first time since his mother had left that anyone besides his uncle had given him a present.

Not wanting to hurt Toph's feelings, he lifted a piece of coal with considerable trepidation and half-heartedly nibbled on it. To his surprise it practically melted in his mouth, the harsh charcoal producing a rich, wholesome flavour. It reminded him of some of the delicacies he'd enjoyed in the fire nation before he'd been banished.

"This is delicious," he said, startled by the revelation. He could feel the flames beneath his skin flare, signalling their approval. "Thank you, Toph."

The earthbender looked uncharacteristically shy for a moment, before reaching out and punching him lightly on the arm. "I wouldn't let Sokka see you eating those," she remarked. "He'll probably devour half the bag before he realises what it is."

The rare sound of Zuko's laughter floated through the trees, followed by Toph's mischievous chuckle.


End file.
